Research Information System
Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences, vol.40, no.4, pp.443-450, 2020 (Scopus)
Objective: The aim of this study is dosimetric comparison of 3-D conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and hybrid IMRT (h-IMRT) planning techniques above the recommended standard treatment doses for esophageal cancer patients in terms of target volume dose dis-tribution and critical organ protection. The routine applicability of the h-IMRT technique have also been evaluated. Material and Methods: Totally 42 treatment plans for 59.4 Gy dose were designed for 14 esophageal cancer patients with 3D-CRT, IMRT and h-IMRT techniques. Dosimetric evaluation and comparison of the techniques were performed according to the parameters of dose volume histogram (DVH), homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI) and monitor unit (MU) calculations. The quality control of the dose distributions was calculated by treatment planning system (TPS) and, 2-dimensional dose distributions and point absolute doses were measured with MatriXX and ion chambers respectively. Results: In all regions of the esophagus, IMRT technique was found to be more successful than the 3D-CRT and h-IMRT techniques in terms of PTV coverage. HI was in accepted limits for all techniques but, IMRT and h-IMRT techniques were better for CI. As expected, treatment duration and MU parameters were found to be high in IMRT technique. Conclusion: Although all plans were within acceptable limits, dosimetric comparison of different planning tech-niques, revealed that 3D-CRT had statistically significant differences from IMRT planning technique in terms of planned target volume (PTV) coverage, OAR pro-tection, HI, CI, MU and treatment duration above the standart doses. From the as-pect of treatment duration and MU parameters, h-IMRT technique can be considered as an alternative planning option.